Biden Admits Houthis Are ‘Terrorists’ After Reversing Trump’s Foreign Terrorist Organization Designation; Biden Taking Houthis Off Terrorist List Comes Back to Haunt Him; Biden: Decision to Delist Houthis as Terrorists ‘Irrelevant’

Biden Admits Houthis Are ‘Terrorists’ After Reversing Trump’s Foreign Terrorist Organization Designation:

President Joe Biden admitted the Iran-backed Houthis are “terrorists,” after revoking former President Donald Trump’s designation of the group as terrorists early on in his administration.

On Friday, a reporter asked Biden, “Are you willing to call the Houthis a terrorist group, sir?”

The president responded, “I think they are.”

Biden in February 2021 reversed Trump’s designation of the group as terrorists, which had cut them off from the international banking system.

The Biden administration argued that the move would hurt Yemeni civilians and hindered negotiations with the group, which was locked in a war with U.S.-backed Saudi Arabia.

Former Trump Pentagon chief of staff Kash Patel told Breitbart News in an interview last month that designating the Houthis as terrorists was important in order to squeeze their funding and deter further attacks in Saudi Arabia, where U.S. troops are stationed.

“So you shut them down financially and you are able [to] target them as terrorists. And then if they meet the threshold, you’re able to take out their leadership — people who are actually terrorists,” he said.

“When you remove the designation, like the Biden administration did, you allow them access to the global banking system, you allow them to travel freely, you allow them to engage in business with our allies,” he said. “So you allow them to get money, get funded. You allow Iran to pay them, and we don’t have a recourse. Since they’re not a designated terrorist organization, operationally and intelligence-wise, they’re not a priority to take out, they’re not a priority for intelligence collection purposes.” —>READ MORE HERE

Biden Taking Houthis Off Terrorist List Comes Back to Haunt Him:

President Joe Biden is facing conservative criticism for reversing former President Donald Trump’s decision to put the Houthis on the U.S. terror list.

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the U.S. had designated the Yemeni rebel group a “foreign terrorist organization” days before Trump left office in early 2021, despite international concerns that the move could create a humanitarian crisis in Yemen. The Biden administration removed the designation one month later.

On Thursday, the U.S. and U.K. launched a series of airstrikes on positions held by the Iran-backed group inside Yemen, with Biden later explaining that the strikes were “in direct response to unprecedented Houthi attacks against international maritime vessels in the Red Sea.” The Houthis have been attacking ships that they claim are aiding Israel in the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Shortly before the strikes, Pompeo shared an opinion article on the matter to X, formerly Twitter. The article, from The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, argued that Biden should put the Houthis back on the terror list and suggested attacking the group “to deter them from further violence.”

“This is exactly right,” Pompeo wrote while sharing the article. “Removing the Houthi’s terror designation was a dangerous mistake. It sent a signal of weakness to Iran.” ––>READ MORE HERE

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+++++Joe Biden: Decision to Delist Houthis as Terrorists ‘Irrelevant’+++++

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